Volvo taking on BMW with self-driving car by 2021

Volvo will start testing vehicles with advanced self-driving features next year in Gothenburg, Sweden, London and China.

The race for delivering the first fully-autonomous car has just gotten more fierce. The latest automaker to join the race is Volvo who just announced their plans of building a self-driving car by 2021. The Swedish carmaker will start testing vehicles with advanced self-driving features next year in Gothenburg, Sweden, London and China, eventually putting about 100 test cars on the road in each country with ordinary customers as drivers. The pilot aims to be an intermediate step before a fully-automated car hits the road.

Volvo has set a goal that no person will be killed or seriously injured in a new Volvo car by 2020. To reach that target new Volvos will need to be equipped with new driving technologies, including advanced autonomous features.

CEO Hakan Samuelsson said that autonomous driving on public roads within five years will also require laws and regulations to keep up with technological advances.

2 responses to “Volvo taking on BMW with self-driving car by 2021”

I suspect every OEM will have at least one fully autonomous car in their lineup within 5 to 6 years. In the meantime autonomous features like self braking, self parking and other driver assist tech will become commonplace, even in lower cost vehicles.